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Hell
a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Hell is vast and is mostly depicted as an endless realm of fire,pain and suffering. Demons are the local residents of hell usually the ones inflicting harm on the souls of the damned. Satan the King of Hell rules this dark world of death and torture. 'Circles of Hell' First Circle-Limbo:'Here reside the unbaptized and the virtuous pagans, who, though not sinful, did not accept God. They are not punished in an active sense, but rather grieve only their separation from God, without hope of reconciliation. Limbo shares many characteristics with the Asphodel Meadows; thus the guiltless damned are punished by living in a deficient form of Heaven.Limbo includes green fields and a castle, the dwelling place of the wisest men of antiquity. '''Second Circle-Lust:'Those overcome by lust are punished in this circle. They are the first ones to be truly punished in Hell. These souls are blown about to and fro by a violent storm, without hope of rest. This symbolizes the power of lust to blow one about needlessly and aimlessly. '''Third Circle-Gluttony: Cerberus guards the gluttons, forced to lie in a vile slush made by freezing rain, black snow, and hail. This symbolizes the garbage that the gluttons made of their lives on earth, slavering over food. Fourth Circle-Avarice:'''Those whose attitude toward material goods deviated from the desired mean are punished in this circle. They include the avaricious or miserly, who hoarded possessions, and the prodigal, who squandered them. Guarded by Plutus, the two groups joust, using as weapons great weights which they push with their chests. '''Fifth Circle-Wrath & Sloth: In the swamp-like water of the river Styx, the wrathful fight each other on the surface, and the sullen or slothful lie gurgling beneath the water.The lower parts of hell are contained within the walls of the city of Dis, which is itself surrounded by the Stygian marsh. Punished within Dis are active (rather than passive) sins. The walls of Dis are guarded by fallen angels. Sixth Circle-Heresy: Heretics are trapped in flaming tombs. Seventh Circle-Violence: This circle houses the violent. Its entry is guarded by the Minotaur, and it is divided into three rings: *'Outer ring:' Housing the violent against people and property, who are immersed in Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood, to a level commensurate with their sins. The Centaurs, commanded by Chiron, patrol the ring, firing arrows into those trying to escape. *'Middle ring:' In this ring are the suicides, who are transformed into gnarled thorny bushes and trees. They are torn at by the Harpies. Unique among the dead, the suicides will not be bodily resurrected after the final judgment, having given their bodies away through suicide. Instead they will maintain their bushy form, with their own corpses hanging from the limbs. The other residents of this ring are the profligates, who destroyed their lives by destroying the means by which life is sustained (i.e. money and property). They are perpetually chased by ferocious dogs through the thorny undergrowth. *'Inner ring:' The violent against God (blasphemers), the violent against nature (sodomites), and the violent against order (usurers), all reside in a desert of flaming sand with fiery flakes raining from the sky. The blasphemers lie on the sand, the usurers sit, and the sodomites wander about in groups. Eigth Circle-Fraud: The last two circles of Hell punish sins that involve conscious fraud or treachery. The circles can be reached only by descending a vast cliff.The fraudulent—those guilty of deliberate, knowing evil—are located in a circle named Malebolge ("Evil Pockets"), divided into ten bolgie, or ditches of stone, with bridges spanning the ditches: *'Bolgia 1:' Panderers (pimps) and seducers march in separate lines in opposite directions, whipped by demons. Just as they misled others in life, they are driven to march by demons for all eternity. *'Bolgia 2:' Flatterers are steeped in human excrement. This is because their flatteries on earth were nothing but "a load of excrement" *'Bolgia 3:' Those who committed simony are placed head-first in holes in the rock, with flames burning on the soles of their feet. *'Bolgia 4:' Sorcerers and false prophets have their heads twisted around on their bodies backward. In addition, they cry so many tears that they cannot see. This is symbolic because these people tried to see into the future by forbidden means (and possibly retribution for the delusions they concocted that probably led their followers to their own perils); thus in Hell they can only see what is behind them and cannot see forward. *'Bolgia 5:' Corrupt politicians (barrators) are immersed in a lake of boiling pitch, which represents the sticky fingers and dark secrets of their corrupt deals. They are guarded by devils called the Malebranche ("Evil Claws"). *'Bolgia 6:' The bridge over this bolgia is broken, Hypocrites listlessly walk along wearing gilded lead cloaks. *'Bolgia 7:' Thieves, guarded by the centaur Cacus, are pursued and bitten by snakes and lizards. The snake bites make them undergo various transformations, with some resurrected after being turned to ashes, some mutating into new creatures, and still others exchanging natures with the reptiles, becoming lizards themselves that chase the other thieves in turn. Just as the thieves stole other people's substance in life, and because thievery is reptilian in its secrecy, the thieves' substance is eaten away by reptiles and their bodies are constantly stolen by other thieves. *'Bolgia 8:' Fraudulent advisors are encased in individual flames. *'Bolgia 9:' A sword-wielding demon hacks at the sowers of discord. As they make their rounds the wounds heal, only to have the demon tear apart their bodies again. *'Bolgia 10:' Here various sorts of falsifiers , who are a disease on society, are themselves afflicted with different types of diseases. Ninth Circle-Treason: The Ninth Circle is ringed by classical and Biblical giants. The giants are standing either on the ninth circle of Hell, or on a ledge above it, and are visible from the waist up at the ninth circle of the Malebolge. Each group of traitors is encased in ice to a different depth, ranging from only the neck and through to complete immersion. The circle is divided into four concentric zones: *'Round 1:' Caïna, named for Cain, is home to traitors to their kindred. The souls here are immersed in the ice up to their faces. *'Round 2:' Antenora is named for Antenor of Troy, who according to medieval tradition betrayed his city to the Greeks. Traitors to political entities, such as party, city, or country, are located here.The souls here are immersed in the ice deep enough that they are unable to bend their necks. *'Round 3:' Ptolomaea is probably named for Ptolemy, the captain of Jericho, who invited Simon Maccabaeus and his sons to a banquet and then killed them. Traitors to their guests are punished here.The souls here lay supine on the ice, which covers them except for half of their faces. As they cry, their tears freeze and seal their eyes shut–they are denied even the comfort of tears. *'Round 4:' Judecca, named for Judas Iscariot, Biblical betrayer of Christ, is for traitors to their lords and benefactors. All of the sinners punished within are completely encapsulated in ice, distorted in all conceivable positions.